The 10 most rousing moments in sports, FTW!

When your favorite team hits a game-winning shot, it comes at the expense of someone else’s favorite team. Cities and fanbases can bond over achievement, but it’s rare that a collective thrill happens on a national level.

The Super Bowl was fantastic, as long as you weren’t rooting for the 49ers.

Are there any universally loved moments in sports? Moments that gave everyone (or as close to everyone as you can get) a momentary thrill?

To celebrate the launch of For The Win we found 10 such occasions — the biggest “for the win” moments in recent sports history that had America collectively cheering. Team sports don’t figure heavily into the list because there are enough people around the country who weren’t happy that Michael Jordan hit that shot over Bryon Russell.

1. Mike Eruzione’s go-ahead goal at the Miracle on Ice

Do you ever notice how the “where were you when that happened” question is most often asked of infamous circumstances? The Kennedy assassination. The Challenger explosion. The OJ verdict. 9/11. The deaths of Elvis, Michael Jackson or John Lennon. Great feats can be collectively shared (like the moon landing) but we tend to bond over the tragedies. But ask anyone of a certain age and they’ll tell you exactly where they were when they heard Team USA stunned the Soviet Union in the Olympic hockey semifinal. No sporting event in American history united the country more than the Miracle on Ice. No sporting event ever will again.

2. Jason Lezak’s miracle finish at 2008 Olympics

Speaking of miracles, if not for “genius,” the word “miracle” would be the most overused adjective in sports vernacular. Miracles are for Sunday school, Smokey Robinson and when you’re not particularly feeling like mayonnaise. But the Jason Lezak in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics — the one in which he came back from a body length behind the world’s fastest freestyler to save Michael Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals? Miracle. Lezak and USA hockey. That’s the list.

3. Brandi Chastain’s penalty kick at the 1999 Women’s World Cup

One of the great things about sports is how it can turn unknowns into heroes. Brandi Chastain wasn’t one of the five most heralded players on the much-hyped U.S. women’s World Cup team in 1999. One penalty kick and sports bra celebration later, she became an instant sporting icon.

4. Mark McGwire’s 62nd home run

Given the cynicism that’s accompanied baseball’s steroid era, it’s hard to remember when we were all wide-eyed rubes watching Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa try to break the most hallowed record in sports. We didn’t realize there was anything suspicious about the hulking behemoths slugging home runs at an unfathomable pace. We ignored whispers about enhancement and instead focused on the summer-long streak that captivated America. It was wonderful.

Mark McGwire celebratres with Sammy Sosa after 62nd home run in 1998. (AP Photo/James A. Finley)

5. Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary

The 1984 Miami-Boston College game was supposed to take place in September, but television executives moved kickoff to the day after Thanksgiving in order to showcase the Bernie Kosar-Doug Flutie battle. Though Flutie’s pass would have been great in any month, it lives on today thanks, in part, to the fact that America was watching.

6. Jack Nicklaus putt at the 1986 Masters

“Yes sir.”

Jack Nicklaus hits a birdie putt at the 1986 Masters. (AP)

Now that Adam Scott has won the Masters, maybe Australia can now get on board with the Nicklaus putt that eventually helped him beat Greg Norman in 1986.

7. Tiger Woods’ chip-in at 2005 Masters

The best sports moments make you forget about any rooting allegiances. So whether you love or hate Tiger — and this chip was before his personal troubles, so it was more of the former — it didn’t matter when this chip fell during the 2005 Masters. You were too busy yelling in disbelief to care.

8. Kerri Strug’s vault

Even McKayla was impressed (though Ms. Maroney wasn’t yet one-year old when Strug landed the gold-clinching vault at the 1996 Olympics on a bum ankle).

9. Cal Ripken Jr.’s home run in record-breaking game

Ripken hit homers on the night he tied Lou Gehrig and the night he passed the Iron Horse’s record of 2,130 consecutive games played. How good was that second home run? So good that not even Chris Berman, everyone’s favorite baseball play-by-play punching bag, could ruin the moment. Berman’s “oh my goodness, he did it again” call of Cal’s timely home run is perfect and would be a classic if it had been said by Vin Scully or Jack Buck.

Cal Ripken Jr. hit a home run in both game 2,130 and 2,131 of his streak. (Porter Binks, USA TODAY Sports)

10. Bryce Drew’s buzzer beater

Christian Laettner’s buzzer beater is the greatest, and most famous, in NCAA history. But there’s a large anti-Duke and pro-Kentucky faction that cringes every time they hear Verne Lundquist say “puts it up…!” It takes a memorable shot by a Cinderella to get universal love. Not everyone adores Bryce Drew’s three-pointer in 1998 (sorry, Ole Miss fans), just almost everyone. Recent commercials during the NCAA tournament that replayed the shot with an astronaut celebrating on the sidelines are testing our collective goodwill, however.

The greatest moments in recent sports history that had America collectively cheering.

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